A sneak preview of this week's issue

The meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill is unprecedented, but the Russian Orthodox leader will come armed with his own political agenda

Readers attend historic Vespers at palace Two Herald readers were due to attend a historic Catholic Vespers at a chapel in Hampton Court this week. Mavis Smith of Canterbury, Kent, and Lorna Gordon of Newark, Nottinghamshire, won a Herald prize draw for tickets for the Vespers in Henry VIII’s chapel. Cardinal Nichols hails Kwik Save

Pope appeals to world’s leaders to save Syria Pope Francis has appealed for international help for Syrian civilians caught in the country’s five-year civil war. In his Angelus he said he was following Syrians’ fate with “deep concern” and asked the world’s leaders to secure “a future of reconciliation and peace”. Cardinal: we must reduce

A European bishops’ commission has welcomed a move by the European Parliament to classify atrocities and religious cleansing by ISIS as genocide. Fr Patrick Daly, general secretary of Comece, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the European Community, said the designation represented progress in halting the persecution of Christians and other minorities in Syria

The Catholic Church must respect “with a capital R” China’s rich traditional culture and “age-old” wisdom, Pope Francis has said. Dialogue between China and the rest of the world, including the Church, is necessary because it is the only way to achieve peace, he said. “Dialogue does not mean that we end up with a

Pope Francis was expected to hold a historic meeting with the Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill in Cuba today. The Pope was to meet the patriarch in Havana on his way to Mexico, the Vatican said. It would be the first-ever meeting of a Pope and Moscow patriarch, Fr Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters.

Praying is not like taking an aspirin, something one does just to feel a little better, Pope Francis told thousands of members of Padre Pio prayer groups from around the world. Prayer is not a business negotiation with God either, he said, addressing more than 60,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square on Saturday. Prayer

Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury is to launch a fundraising appeal to support evangelisation and the training of priests. In his pastoral letter for Lent, to be read out at Masses on Sunday, Bishop Davies said the appeal would fund “pastoral and missionary goals, including the training of a new generation of priests; the formation

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow has urged all Catholic teachers to seek jobs in the Catholic education sector amid a crisis in recruitment. Archbishop Tartaglia, president of the Scottish Catholic Education Service (SCES), said: “Given the current shortages of teachers and headteachers, I want to appeal to Catholic teachers who are not currently working in

Pope Francis could make a flying visit to Scotland in September, according to  reports. The Pope has “pencilled in” a short visit to St Andrews to sign a charter calling on all faiths to unite against extremism, The Sunday Times reported. Mario Aguilar, professor of religion and politics at St Andrews University, received a letter from

Abortion is no answer to the threat of Zika SIR – Your article on Zika (News Focus, February 5) raises some important issues, not least your welcome emphasis on the importance of good public health measures. The same mosquito that spreads Zika spreads dengue and chikungunya fever, and we are highly unlikely to see it